Once Broken
by Empyrean-Elaine
Summary: A girl back in town, only to have her heart broken and 1 again, Touya is Sakura's teacher at Tomoeda High. CCS gang and a whole lot of fun with the arrival of Sayuri, and the journey of her way to Touya's heart. This story will make you laugh... Pls No flames suggestions r invited tho... 1st story of mine, hv a lil' mercy... SONGFICS... Pairing: TK x OC, E x T, SxS, M x O
1. A Journey Back

Chapter 1. A journey back…

Sayuri was packing her stuff for she was to depart from Spain tomorrow, to land in her hometown, Tomoeda, Japan. She's been in Spain since she was 5 and a half year old and yet all the memories were as fresh as if it's been yesterday. Though she felt excited to head back to the place where it all began, she felt a pang since she would leave Spain and her best friends here.

"Would it all be okay?" Sayuri thought while she finished her packing.

Sayuri had only two best friends Ayumi and Troy. Ayumi was a half Japanese and half Spanish just like Sayuri. Whereas Troy on the other hand was a pure Roman breed. Everyone knew Troy had always had a crush on Saya, as he called her. But she's always been oblivious to his obvious feelings. Saya was the name she (Sayuri) was called by only her best friends, guardians and parents. But who knew everything she had was about to change….

She waved off to her friends at the airport and once the plane took off she looked down from the window… the same sight greeted her which she saw when she first came to Spain with her parents. And a small tear came rushing down her cheek. All the memories flooded back to her, and hit her like a meteor. But as the time passed she drifted off to sleep.

Once at the Tokyo airport, she was greeted by a familiar face… her beloved aunt – Miyuki. A face that she could never forget... Mrs. Miyuki Hitoshi, a fairly gorgeous lady in her late 30s, dressed up in a traditional Japanese dress, eyes – color of the hazel, 5ft 4 inches in height, and her brown hairs tied up in a chignon, was waiting with a bright smile for her niece to arrive. Miyuki was Saya's paternal aunt and one of the best friends of her mother.

Gathering up the luggage they took a cab home… Saya's home 11 years back, a place where her parents lived. This was the place where she was about to live for until her graduation. Saya's aunt lived a few blocks away from this place. Her aunt wanted Saya to live with her but since her parent's house was much easier to access her way to her new high school and to her part time jobs, she decided to live here. Nonetheless this was the very place where she could relive her memories, the time she spent with her parents.

11 years back, Saya lost her parents and her elder brother – Hiroyuki who was elder by 7 years to her, in a car accident, though she was in the same car but somehow she was the only one to survive it. That was the year that took her to her mom's sister's place back in Spain. It was decided by her two aunts that Saya would be completing her school education in Spain and her rest of the career in Tomoeda, Japan. But Saya longed to go back to her home.

She now stood in front of the gates of her old home, she could see that her aunt had cleaned everything for her arrival. It was a small house, but very spacious, and had a small but beautiful garden. There were many more houses in the neighborhood, and she also remembered few of the neighbors from her childhood, she noticed some of the old ones were gone and in their place new faces could be seen. When she enthusiastically stepped on the porch she could see a small balcony like area where two chairs were kept accompanied by a small wooden and glass table by the main door. When she excitedly turned the key and opened the door to the house, she found a pretty living room, which was adorned by a set of beautiful furniture, old T.V. and some beautiful pictures of her past clung to a wall. At the left corner she could see a doorway which led to a passageway which had entrance to a bathroom, kitchen and a staircase which probably led to bedrooms and a mini-terrace.

She quickly left her luggage in the living room and rushed upstairs to her room which she used when she was 5. She noticed a study table which was attached to a window, but beneath the glass of the table there were lots of pictures of her favorite cartoons, action heroes, etc. there was also a cupboard and a doorway that led to a bathroom. The room had the same feeling it used to have 11 years back, but the only thing that felt empty was the presence of her parents and her ever teasing brother. She checked out everything and every room one by one and her aunt reminded her of the things she forgot. She also checked out her bicycle that she rode 11 years back and a new bicycle standing next to it with all its glory.

"No way! But Miyuki you've already done so much for me! I can't take this…"

"Sweetie it's just a late birthday gift! After all you've been away for such a long time and after all this time now I get to have you back! This is fair enough! Plus your uncle doesn't want you to run around Tomoeda, school-home-work-home! It'll probably affect your health!"

"Aw thank you! But this means no expensive gifts from now on okay?"Miyuki nodded and Saya kissed her aunt's cheeks, "Thanks for everything!"

"Anything for you sweetheart, just remember the spare keys are with the Kinomoto family next door. And if you need anything call me! I've stocked everything you'll need, and just in case you forget about anything… I've written it on this paper; I'm keeping it in this drawer. Now unpack and get some rest, you've got to attend your new high school tomorrow morning… I hope you've got everything ready…" Her aunt said as if she had memorized everything from a script…

"Yeah thanks again…" Saya hugged her aunt goodnight and placed another kiss on her cheek wishing sweet dreams.

"You know, you look just like your mother. It's just your eyes that remind me of your father!" Miyuki said as she opened the door to exit.

"Goodnight Miyuki!"

"Goodnight pumpkin!"

It was their way of affection, to call each other on the first name basis. Saya was the beloved in the entire family. Not due to sympathy that she lost her both parents when she was a kid but because of her nature, attitude and the way she kept everyone happy around her.

Saya didn't ate that night as she was sort of jet lagged. But she did unpacked and readied all her stuff for her first day of her high school life. Then after going through her family photographs, and after contemplating each of them, she picked a certain one which enclosed a caption of her parents and her friends along with her in her home's small garden. it was rather an aged photo but still she managed to frame it up and placed it on her bed-side table. She hung her guitar oh the free wall opposite to her bed and went to the small terrace to greet the overview of the small city.

"I'm finally home!" she sighed.

A car passed down the road to the neighboring house, she figured it was one of the Kinomoto's and sure she was, it was Touya Kinomoto driving back to the house after a long day at work. She heard the car being parked and "I'm home!" greetings being exchanged. And for a while she looked at the sky when a shooting star caught her eyes… as like everyone who'd caught such a glimpse, would do, she too clasped her hands and eyes shut and wished…


	2. First Day

Chapter 2. First day…

Sayuri woke up to the ringing of her alarm, she lazily switched off and pulled her blanket over her head and went to sleep again, suddenly ten of the alarms went off… she couldn't help but throw her pillow and hurriedly switched off every alarm she hid in almost all the possible corners of her room.

"Good thing, my friends gifted me alarm clocks!" she scratched her head and got on with finishing her morning chores.

She finished making her small breakfast that consisted of bread and jam with a glass of milk. Then picked up her bag and keys and left for the school. On her way she noticed many of other students walking towards the same destination. Some were with their friends or either alone like her. When it came to socializing Sayuri was quite a shy one. She never had much friends nor did she wanted many either.' Fewer the better' was her quote. She remembered she had few interviews to attend after school so as to take up a part time job.

As she made her way through the gates of Tomoeda High, she noticed many of the students ogling her. There were many groups of students… the fan girls, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the musicals, the sportsmen…

Thud!

"Aw man! Great shot! You just blew the air out of a hot-chick's melons on the bloody first day!" Yamazaki nudged Tsubasa, the new member on their team. While everyone made disgusted faces at him…

"What? I'm sure that's gonna hurt!" Yamazaki said.

Sayuri was lying on the ground with her hands folded under her breasts, her breathe was quite harsh as she tried to gain her composure. When she got up she saw one of the football team member rushing towards her.

"Hey! Umm… sorry we didn't meant to knock the daylights out of you, we were just practicing and this new guy just missed the goal and…" Eriol was trying to reason when Sayuri interrupted

"It's okay, I'm fine actually…" she handed the ball to him.

"Eriol Hiragizawa, nice to meet you!"Eriol shook hands with the new girl.

"Sayuri Tsuchiura"

"You don't look from around here… which year?"

"There Tomoyo-chan you're future boyfriend's flirting!" Naoko said to the CCS girl's group.

"I'm half Spanish… senior year"

"Let me introduce you to some whom you can befriend… they belong to senior year too!"Eriol arrived to where his female classmates were standing in a group, which included – Naoko, Rika, Tomoyo, Meiling, Chiharu and Sakura.

"Introduce yourselves, I better join my gang…" then Eriol took his leave.

"Wow! You've got gorgeous eyes!" Rika said and Chiharu whistled noticing the golden eyes with a mixture of yellow. (Okay work with me here plz, all the other colors for the eyes were taken already!)

"Thanks, I'm Sayuri Tsuchiura, I'm almost new in town… how are you To-chan and Saku-chan?" Saya smiled at Sakura and Tomoyo.

{Alright People, Saya was Sakura's neighbor but she knew Tomoyo because they had met at amusement park when they were kids, turns out Saya's dad was an old friend of Tomoyo's mom and Sakura's mom…}

"You don't' look much Japanese… ya know?" Naoko fixed her specs.

"Yeah, her mum's Spanish and dad's Japanese…"Tomoyo said, flashing a sweet smile, "We're fine, how was life back there in Spain?"

"Wait! You guys know each other?" Meiling asked.

"She and Sakura-Chan used to be neighbors 11 years back!" Tomoyo said.

"HOE! That's why you look so familiar! That figures…" Sakura said, and everyone sweat dropped, "What? I'm just a troubled human soul… I too tend to forget things please cut me some slack here!"

"It was great in Spain but I missed everything here… it's great to be back" Saya said and then everyone introduced themselves.

When the bell rang everyone got to their respective classes. The CCS gang settled in the class… Saya took a seat behind Tomoyo and Eriol sat behind Saya, their row happened to be on the far left alongside the windows, Saya's view faced a peach tree near the School's lake. Syaoran took a seat to the right of Eriol and was behind Sakura. Naoko and Chiharu sat before Sakura and Rika sat in front of Tomoyo. Chiharu and Yamazaki sat next to each other, while Tsubasa took a seat near Naoko.

After a while the door to the class opened and revealed their new teacher for the year. And in came the new homeroom teacher…

"HOE!?" Sakura went egg-eyed.

"CRAP!" went Syaoran's brain.

Eriol and Tomoyo simply smiled. And a few whistles could be heard from the rest of the class… obviously from girls!

Touya settled down his bag and introduced himself to the class, while taking attendance he told everyone to introduce themselves. One by one everyone was done with the introduction. Sayuri remembered it was the same guy who she saw last night…

'Eh… great! My neighbor, my teacher! What luck!'Saya made a sarcastic note in her mind.

It was obvious to the CCS gang why Touya had taken up a job which was less than his caliber considering his master's degree in Business Administration… simply because he wanted to keep an eye on his Kaiju sister!

IN THE RECESS…

"You're brother's an ass!" Syaoran said as he placed a damp handkerchief on his face.

"Don't call him an ass!" Sakura pouted.

"Yeah…" Meiling said while she munched on her Tiffin box.

"Mei-Chan how come you're not having lunch alone today, like you always do…", Naoko asked.

"Dunno…!" Meiling bluntly replied.

"May be he's just over protected…?" Saya said.

"I'd rather use 'psycho'!" Syaoran said while he removed his damp handkerchief and looked straight in the eye of his girlfriend mockingly.

"Why would you say that…?" Saya enquired…

"Want an illustration? Watch…" Eriol asked in to her ear… suddenly Eriol nudged Syaoran's elbow causing it to collapse, which caught him off guard and he lost his balance, only to land his lips on his girlfriend's cheek.

THUD!

On the spur of the moment a soccer ball came out of nowhere and launched fast and hard in Syaoran's face… making his nose bleed. Sakura giggled and took out a tissue box and wiped Syaoran's nose with it…

"What did you do that for…?" Syaoran grabbed Eriol's shirt.

"How many this week?" Naoko asked Sakura.

"This is the 4thtissue box!" Sakura giggled again.

Saya watched in horror.

"See we all here agree that he's a 'psycho'…" Eriol said in a smile.

"…"

"He's a nice guy, just has a sister complex!" Tomoyo smiled.

"Yeah he sure is…" Meiling said as she munched her last bite.

"What makes ya people so sure its Kinomoto-sensei? It can be someone else who's got a crush on Saku-chan and is stalking her…" Saya suggested.

"Girl, who's side are you on? Besides everyone knows Saku and I are a thing, nobody would dare to even cross paths with me when it comes to Sakura…" Syaoran said with his fist balled up in the air beside his face while everyone else sweat dropped.

"Calm down lover boy…" Eriol teased, causing Syaoran to pass a death glare at him.

After a while the recess ended and after two more classes there were tryouts for various activities… music, sports, cheerleading, etc.

Boys got themselves enrolled for the soccer team and few girls for cheer leading, but Saya on the other hand did not participate in any since it was not compulsory. Rather she took a leave and visited the cemetery to meet her deceased parents. Then she made her way back to her place. When she got ready and walked out of the house to go for the various interviews she noticed a car getting parked at Kinomoto's. When Touya came out of the car he noticed someone fumbling with the keys to the next door gates…

"Hey! Need help?" He asked to Saya, who had her back towards Touya.

"Um… not really… Ah! There you are Mr. Right-key!" she locked the gate and turned around, to find an emotionless face of Touya.

"Hey you're... Tsuchiura-San from my class right?" it was more like a statement than a question coming out of the Kinomoto heir.

"Yeah… and you're my teacher/neighbor/Saku-Chan's brother… nice to meet ya…" she took her hand out for a hand shake.

"Hmm… same here…" they shook hands after such a long span of time.

"Well I gotta go now…" Sayuri said but was interrupted by Touya's father

"Hey Saya-Chan! Why don't you join us for the dinner?" Fujitaka asked as he stepped closer to their gates.

"Um… may be sometime later… I've got to be somewhere at the moment… Thank you for the offer!" she bowed.

"It's 'arigatou' in Japanese and you're always welcomed… but you sure are joining us for dinner on this Sunday young lady!" Fujitaka commanded through a smile.

"Okay… I have to leave now… it was nice meeting you Kinomoto-san and Kinomoto-sensei!" she bowed again and left on her bicycle.

"Sweet girl… isn't she?" Fujitaka smiled at his son.

"The same girl who left 11 years ago right?" it was not a question in particular but a thread to his mind for remembering what he almost forgot, and the image of the heart broken little girl came rushing back to him.

"Arigatou Gozaimasu!" Saya greeted the two managers of the boutique, where she was supposed to work for next 3 months.

Later she shopped for a few things on her way back home. Good thing that her bicycle had a basket attached to it! When she returned home she made herself a big bowl of noodles and headed to her room. She looked at her Guitar… the companion of her emotions for 3 and half years now. it was gifted to her by her aunt Amara and her Uncle, when she stopped at a store and looked through the window while window shopping. When her maternal aunt noticed what the girl was looking at,theygifted it on her 13th birthday. She missed them too now that they were far away from her.

Grabbing her guitar she made her way to the rooftop, and sat in a corner… after tuning her guitar she started…

"I'm five years old, it's getting cold

I've got my big coat on

I hear your laugh, and I look up smiling at you

I run and run

Past the pumpkin patch, and the tractor rides

Look now the sky is gold

I hug your legs and fall asleep

On the way home

_She remembered the time when the family went to Spain and stayed at Saya's maternal aunt's farm house… Every one of the family used to meet there once a year and have fun… She remembered playing chase with her cousins and siblings… She remembered listening to the stories and the songs everyone used to sing along around the campfire outside the farmhouse near the lake… She remembered falling asleep many a times when they'd be returning back to farmhouse after all the fun…_

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall

I know you're not scared of anything at all

Don't know if snow white's house is near or far away

But I know I had the best day, with you

Today…

_She remembered the clicking of the camera, the smiling faces fighting to pose infront of the camera… And her onii-san teasing her – you're ugly! And the collision of her fist to her onii-san's guts and her retort – I'm not! She remembered a BiG tarantula that fell on top of her head in the farms one day. She started crying, screaming and hid behind her onii-san when it dropped to the ground, she remembered how scared she was, she thought it'd eat her up or she'd die had it bit her… Her onii-san went ahead and picked it up – it ain't gonna hurt you… here don't be scared! And she remembered how she lost the fear of spiders from then on._

I'm thirteen now, and don't know how my friends could be so mean

I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys

And we drive and drive, until we've found a town

Far enough away

And we talk and window-shop, 'til I forgot all their names

_She remembered when she was thirteen and was still recovering from the vocal problem she was suffering from due to the car accident and a few of her friends bullied her to gain popularity, back then she'd had lost her parents and onii-san already and all she had were her cousins and her maternal aunt, so she just went upto her aunt and told everything… (The rest you can figure what they did from the song…)_

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to

Now at school

I know I'm laughing on the car-ride home with you

Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay

But I know I had the best day with you

Today…

_The next day at school she made friends with Troy and Ayumi, who accepted her with everything and the three of them became the best of friends… went to field trips together, family outings, and almost everywhere. _

I have an excellent father

His strength is making me stronger

God smiles on my little brother

inside and out he's better than I am

I grew up in a pretty house

And I had space to run

And I had the best days with you

_She remembered all the times she had fun with her friends in Tomoeda and back in Spain, she remembered all her memories… She remembered how her brother used to tease her all the time along with his best friend Touya Kinomoto, she remembered how she and Sakura would retort back and a small smile crept up her lips…_

There is a video

I found from back when I was three

You set up a paint set in the kitchen

And you're talking to me

it's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs

Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world

_She found a video tape the day she came back and stayed up late watching the video again and again… _

Now I know why all the trees change in the fall

I know you were on my side even when I was wrong

And I love you for giving me your eyes

Staying back and watching me shine

_She remembered the first time she lied to her parents when she was 7, she had brought a stray kitten home and was hiding it in the attic and when asked how did the kitten got there, she lied that she didn't knew how… The lie was so innocent that anyone could point it out, but no one said a thing even her brother didn't said a thing, after a little while on the dinner she confessed that she had brought the little kitten home and she loved it a lot and so wanted to keep him to herself, her onii-chan smiled at her and told her that lying causes trouble, and the liars go to hell, and are burnt in the fire… she got so scared she started crying… her mommy and daddy soothed her and told her it's okay to lie sometimes but not all the time, and one should only lie when it is necessary for a good cause and since it was her first lie she wouldn't go to hell or be burnt in there… _

And I didn't know if you knew

So I'm taking this chance to say

That I had the best day with you

Today…"

(Wow! the T-Swift's song 'The best day' fitted perfectly to the scenario… except that it was her aunt and uncle when she was 13…)

Touya was on his balcony when he heard someone sing…


	3. Like Father, Like Son

Chapter 3. An accidental meeting…

It was the end of first week at Tomoeda High for the first years' bunch. Saya looked tired by each day, since all the homework, assignments, job and her guitar were really catching up to her. After school during the sports practice session all the CCS girls made Saya stay and watch with them, while they did commentaries to cheer her up. They were sitting in a tree nearby the soccer ground…

"Aw… what's with that Tsu-baka-kun today? Why doesn't he goal?" Chiharu piped.

"May be someone should put up a big poster of a girl's breasts in place of the goal net and may be Yamazaki-kun and Tsu-baka-kun would become the star goalies…" Naoko said, and caused a fit of laughter among the group.

"Eh… Chiharu-Chan what's with Yamazaki-kun and his obsession over breasts and fruits?" Tomoyo enquired and Chiharu turned a bright shade of red.

"Well… you see…" Chiharu began, THUD!

Before anyone could realize, the soccer ball hit Saya in the chest…Saya on the other hand felt a terrible pain when the ball hit her she was almost unconscious for a moment and hence couldn't balance but when she regained her state she found herself falling, she closed her eyes tightly expecting an even greater pain…

"You know it's not good to fall off of things… what were you doing up there?"

Startled that her ass didn't kissed the ground, she pried her left eye open only to be greeted by dark chocolate ones…

"Are you okay?"

Saya opened both of her eyes and that's when Touya noticed that Saya had ever so mesmerizing golden eyes which were bigger than when he saw her years ago… Touya was her brother's best friend. At this point Touya landed her on her feet.

Touya happened to be making his way towards the parking lot to get his car and when he was standing just below the tree he heard the soccer ball hit something and down came Saya falling. Good thing that he caught her in a wedding style position just before she hit the ground or else she'd have surely opened her eyes in the hospital wing.

"I'm okay… thank you so much! I thought I'd probably open my eyes in the hospital!" Saya regained her composure, "We were watching the game from up there" she pointed a finger towards the branches while still wide eyed, staring into the dark chocolate eyes as if she were hypnotized…

"Benches are much safer… better find some seats next time…" Touya turned around and left.

Saya could still feel her heart pounding but it wasn't from the fear of falling anymore but she didn't understand the weird feeling.

"Hey! You okay?" Meiling called out from the tree, while Sakura came out of the hiding.

"Yeah, I'm fine now…" her heart still was beating but with a pace of its own, something was wrong – she felt, "I better get going… I don't wanna be late at the boutique…"

"Oh don't forget, you're having a dinner with us tomorrow…" Sakura reminded her, though she also invited the rest of the girls but except for Meiling and Tomoyo everyone else had plans for the weekend. Saya greeted everyone with her byes and left on her sparkly red bicycle. She couldn't understand these feelings…

"You should try these on… this color would surely compliment your eyes…" Saya encourage a girl who was her same age to try out an aqua blue colored dress.

After trying the dress the customer bought it. Pleased with her new employee, the manager complimented Saya on her work. The manager was a lady in her late 20s. She had jet black hair and turquoise eyes with fair skin. Her facing reminded her of someone, but she couldn't rightly place her in the mind.

BACK AT THE KiNOMOTO RESiDENCE…

DiNG DONG…

Touya opened up the door,Tomoyo and Meiling were standing on his porch. Tomoyo had her hair tied in a bun and was wearing a purple dress. While Meilin was dressed in a nice white and crimson red colored dress that ended just above her knees, her hair were not tied which left her beautiful raven hair a bit messy, but the look surely enhanced her beauty. A sheer blush adorned her cheeks when she caught Touya's eyes.

"Is Sakura-Chan home?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yeah, come on in she's in her room upstairs" Touya went back to the kitchen to help with the preparations.

While on their way to Sakura's room, Meilin peeked in the kitchen to find whose female voice were they hearing… to her astonishment she found Saya already in the house dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a red turtle neck T-shirt and her curly hair were let loose that made her look even more prettier as it enhanced the beauty of her golden eyes. To her disbelief she was talking to Sakura's dad, and was helping with the preparations as well. She quietly made her way to Sakura's room behind Tomoyo…

"Hey Sakura-Chan!"Tomoyo said as they went in to Sakura's room. They found Sakura cleaning the flour from her hair, "You look like a ghost!" Meilin laughed a little and helped her friend out…

"Thanks for coming you guys" Sakura thanked Meilin and Tomoyo after getting rid-off of the flour…

"So how did you manage to get the flour in your hair? It must have been so hard ne?"Meilin laughed.

"I was trying to get the flour from the cupboard when I tripped and all the flour landed up in my hair"

"And when did Sayuri-Chan came?" enquired Tomoyo.

"Saya-Chan came an hour early, she said she wanted to help with the preparations. Dad refused, but she insisted that it's a custom back in Spain to help out with the preparations… and then Dad had to let her help with the preparations…"

"Oh…" was all Meiling could say…

Later at the table when everything was served… everyone joined in for the dinner. Sakura, Meiling, Tomoyo and Saya just finished their conversation about their assignments for the weekend when Fujitaka asked Saya…

"So what have you thought for college… any choices?"

"I haven't yet figured out about what I'd do after high school, but I'll surely come up with something soon… I'm thinking about Tokyo's Seiso Academy"

"That's good… Sakura haven't even thought about going for further studies…" Touya commented.

"That's a lie!" Sakura stamped Touya's left foot but missed.

"Oh yeah… what's your plan? At least Tsuchiura-san's decided a college!" Touya teased again.

"Otou-san!"

"Touya stop teasing your sister!" Fujitaka smiled at his kids, "Li-san what are your plans?"

Meiling was a bit startled, when she felt everyone's eyes upon her, "Well… umm… I'm thinking of Medicals… but haven't decided a college yet. I'm going through all the information about Medical colleges though." Meiling finished with a shy smile.

"See… at least some of my student's are concerned about their career. Learn something Kaiju!"

"Otou-san!" Sakura pouted.

"Touya!"

"Alright fine, take all the time and think about your career carefully and choose wisely. Sakura don't try and get in to medicals… I'm sure we can't handle the burden of peoples' sufferings caused by your treatments!"Touya smiled and laughed inwardly.

Sakura just tried again to kick Touya under the table but missed.

"What about you To-Chan?" Saya asked Tomoyo.

"Well I'm planning to take up Fashion designing and will set up my own fashion house some day…" Tomoyo replied with a smile.

Meiling knew how Touya was at home and how at school. She was well acquainted with the difference. But the only difference that made her quite uneasy was the fact that Sakura's dad called Sayuri with the nick name followed by an honorific whereas he called her by her surname and the honorific, which meant Sayuri was somehow closer to the Kinomotos, which she sure was in more than one way. Meiling was quite taken aback by this because she secretly treasured feelings for Sakura's elder brother and it was a secret that no one knew except her.

Somehow Saya's memories were refreshed from before she left Japan, she remembered Touya and Hiroyuki used to be best of friends and were always teasing their sisters, while she and Sakura were quite a team. Everything was same, nothing much has changed. She though had a missing feeling and as if someone was watching her at Kinomoto's residence. She also felt the feeling at her own home too…Touya on the other hand knew his Mother's soul was watching everything…

While eating dessert Meiling brought up a question that made an uneasy atmosphere…

"So Saya-Chan what do your parents do?"

Silence…

"Umm… my dad used to work with Kinomoto-San, he was a professor and an archeologist too… Mum was a housewife"Saya had a humble smile across her face.

" That means your dad and Kinomoto-San must be best friends! And do you have siblings? I don't have siblings…"

"I had an elder brother… Hiroyuki-nii-san"

"Hiroyuki and Touya were best friends just like me and Yuuzuki (Saya's Dad)…"Fujitaka trailed off.

Silence…

"…" went Sakura's and Tomoyo's expression

Touya and Fujitaka remained expressionless

Whereas Saya was the first one to speak…

"Mom, dad and nii-san died in a car accident 11 years back, that's when my aunt Amara took me to Spain with her…" said Saya while her expressionless yet mesmerizing eyes kept looking at her ice-cream all the time, "but back in Spain I made new friends and had a new start but I wanted to come back here since I missed everything here, and I also wanted to complete my graduation here like my parents…" She ended up with a warm smile.

"I'm sorry if I had known better I wouldn't have brought the subject…" Meiling sincerely apologized.

"It's okay…"

"Alright, so who's up for another dessert?" Fujitaka changed the subject.

"HOE? But I just bought the ice-cream for the dessert…!" Sakura went off…

"Yeah, but Saya-Chan brought black-forest cake with her…"

After everyone munched down the cake, everyone asked where did she brought such a delicacy from, to which she replied that she had made it herself… she learnt it in her home science class back in Spain… but she was the average scorer whereas her best friends always out-numbered her.

After dinner the girls stayed into Sakura's room for some time for catching up for old time, it was late at night, so they all decided to stay the night at Saya's.

"Everything's just the same…" Said Tomoyo as they entered the Tsuchiura resident.

"I'm glad you still remember… I on the other hand had forgotten a few details… Aunt Miyuki had to remind me…",Saya replied as they all gathered into her bedroom.

"Oh my!"Tomoyo gasped startling everyone in the room, causing Saya to collapse under the spare pair of quilts which she was gathering for the girls.

"What's wrong?" Saya asked poking her head out of the mess…

"Can you play guitar…?"

"Yup! Learnt it in Spain from my friend Troy, though it was gifted to me from my maternal aunt on my thirteenth birthday…"

"Oooh… sounds like someone's got herself a guitarist boyfriend back in Spain…" Tomoyo sung…

"He's my one of the two best friends from Spain, and I DO NOT love him!" Saya had arranged the beds for others along with their helps… "In fact you should put the blame on Ayumi, she's the one who's been in love with him ever since the 9th grade…!"

"So they are a couple eh?" Sakura asked.

"No, Ayu's quite shy about it…" Saya stated.

"Oh…" Meilin trailed off…

"I believe one should confess their love to their loved ones, you don't know when fate takes them away…" said Saya with her eyes covered behind her bangs.

"So… you sing as well…?" Meilin tried to change the subject.

"Not as well as To-Chan here" Saya said remembering about a particular memory…

"Remember Saku-chan when we all three were singing the Christmas carols and a grumpy little kid pointed out to Saya-chan that a sealion snorts rather melodiously than her and you stuffed that kid's mouth with a handful of treats along with the wrappers…?" asked Tomoyo.

"Yeah, and he started crying so bad that we had to move a few blocks farther to collect the treats…" Sakura gave a sheepish smile. "Oh! And that kid still hates me by the way!" Sakura informed Saya.

"And Saya was teased by Onii-san and Hiroyuki-san for about a year…!" Sakura said between her laughter.

"Ummhmm! They kept calling me Sealion's snort for the whole year!" Saya nodded.

By now everyone had changed into PJs… and were all stuffed in their beds and Meilin got better acquainted by the other girl's past lives.


	4. Circumstances

Chapter 4: Circumstances…

"Good Morning! Mei-Chan!"Saya found Meilin walking all by herself in the direction of school.

"Sorry I guess I startled you…" Saya scratched the back of her head, "You seemed quite lost… is something bothering you?"

"Nothing… Was thinking about the upcoming algebra test…"Meilin lied, "You seem to be in a cheery mood today…"

"Yeah, just had a good night sleep… don't worry about the test they always work out, it's the exams we should be worried about" Meilin sweat dropped and Saya smiled, "Look others are just ahead of us, lets join them"

Saya went ahead to catch up to them while Meilin stood there for a few minutes looking at the sight of others, "Mei-Chan come on, you don't wanna be late, do you?" Saya waved after catching up to the group.

The periods went along as usual, but everyone noticed how Meilin kept spacing out during the whole time, even she spaced out during the dodge ball session and ended up with the ball smashing right into her face… She was taken to the hospital wing for the nose bleed where the school nurse told her to take a rest and shooed others for the lunch.

"I wonder what's up with Mei-chan…" Sakura said to no one in particular as everyone gathered for lunch under the cherry tree.

"Yeah she's being aloof and spaced out more than necessary these days, I wonder what's wrong" Syaoran replied.

"I think you should talk to her…" Sakura advised to which she only got 'Hnnn' as an answer.

"So Saya-chan what did you liked here the most…?" Tsubasa asked

"It's not like I'm absolutely new here… if I remember correctly, this is my hometown…" Saya said as she munched on her sandwich…

Tsubasa's face turned into a grim expression that he made a fool of himself…

"But to answer your question, I like the view of the fire-works from a certain hill top that has a great overlook of the town. I'll take a look at how Mei-chan's doing… catch ya buds later!" Saya said as she swallowed the last bite of the sandwich. And finally there was a glow to Tsubasa's face to the retreating form of Saya in the direction she left.

"He's so… not gonna bag that chick…!" Yamazaki whispered in Eriol's ears receiving a nod from the bespectacled friend.

AT THE FiRST AiD WiNG OF THE SCHOOL…

"You Okay?" Saya stood behind the door of the room Meilin was resting in, hearing a male's voice…

"Hmm" Meilin replied, not making the eye contact.

"You got me worried…" Saya heard a pause and a discomfort in the tone of the male's voice… "What's bothering you…?"

"Nothing… I… am… I'm just tired…" Meilin replied.

"Don't lie to me… Something is bothering you. It's written right across your face, is it because of him?"

"It's none of your business, keep out!" Meilin stared at the guy with so much anger that she thought 'if only looks could kill, you'd be dead by now…'

"Look if you just won't tell him, you might miss out on a chance of being with him… besides the new girl seems pretty close to his family, think they got a past?"

"I told ya it's none of your business…"

"Since you're my fiancé… it makes it damn of a business of mine!" The redhead guy frowned, "Look I'm giving you a chance of finding your love… You've got as much time till you graduate and my love, the time is slipping right through your hands, make a move or marry me…" with that said the cerulean eyed male started to leave the room, making Saya to completely hide behind the door in a haste.

"You're making others worried too, it's not just about you Mei…" Feng left the room without taking a second glance at his fiancé…

Meilin sat at the bed looking down at her shoes, she was ready to leave the wing, when her fiancé Feng Chang came into the room. He sure loved her but she didn't. Their families were a long time rivals, but the elders thought that it was time to start anew, that's how Meilin and Feng got wound up into an arranged marriage which would take place after Feng and Meilin complete their studies and are ready to get into a marriage just when Syaoran and Sakura would. Meilin didn't like the Chang heir even the slightest cause she had her heart already set on Touya Kinomoto, she fell in love with him the day she spent the night at Kinomoto's right before she was leaving for her hometown after Meilin called off the engagement with Syaoran. On the other hand the Chang heir had always admired the ruby eyed girl from the bottom of his heart even when they were rivals, and was ready to let her go only if she was in the right hands. He cared a lot about her, hence he accompanied the Lee heir and his cousin to Japan to make sure the guy she loved was not going to take her for granted, but what he found was purely out of his imagination…

Firstly, Touya was 7 years elder to her, not only that she didn't even had confessed her feelings to this guy. Secondly, now He [Touya] was their homeroom teacher as well. He had planned that it'd be just a week's trip here in Japan but seeing what his fiancé has gotten herself into, he thought he might as well wait and see what comes out of it, he knew somewhere she'll need someone's shoulder and he wanted it to be his'. He saw the Tsuchiura girl, and dug out some information on her, and knew more than the golden eyed girl herself or the homeroom teacher himself.

Saya thought she should leave Meilin alone for a while after witnessing how much pressure she's going through…

Meilin sat there for a few more 5 mins before she took her leave after consulting the nurse, who by the way had prescribed her a few medicines for keeping her relaxed.

After the school Saya left for her part time job, but not before she invited Meilin over to her place for the weekend asking she needed her help in the physics, since Sakura was having the cheerleading practice and Tomoyo was having guests over at her place, she thought Meilin was the only other girl left that she knew much who had the better physics knowledge… to which Meilin agreed and sighed right after Saya left thanking her already – "Why do I always manage to land the hammer on my feet?" was all Meilin could think of.


	5. Lil' secret? Not anymore!

Chapter 5. Little Secret, Not anymore…

As planned, after school both the girls went to Saya's place. Talking like they've known each other for a long time. Saya, Sakura and Tomoyo had already feed her about their past and everything they've done together, at the previous night over.

Saya always had the friendly nature but she'd let only a few to get close to her… been through a lot during her child hood, but she had the ones who loved her by her side but that was some other story, with Meilin she noticed there were so many people to care about her yet she was too blinded to see them, or she was way to walled up on her inside. She had also dug out some history of Mei's in the meanwhile before this weekend on her own without making any one suspicious. She found out that Tomoyo was the only friend she felt like confiding in after the break up with Syaoran, but Tomoyo herself seemed quite distracted in her own problems these days, but she'll have to deal with her childhood mate later, she could wait. Right now, Meilin was in a pathetic need for a helpful friend, which she could provide only if she let.

The two girls were at physics from 2 hours now, and both were way too bored to turn another page… {Note: I hate physics…! FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND FROM EACH AND EVERY VEiNS OR ARTERiES FOR THAT MATTER} And it was evening already, so both were now sitting in the kitchen making up dinner.

"You must be missing your friends ne?" Meilin asked as she stirred the curry Saya had made, which was a spanish stuff Mei didn't knew about but sure as hell it smelled awesome… she thought. "You're really good at this… it's already smelling tasty!"

"Learnt it in the home-science class… and I do miss my friends and family, I wish they were here…" Saya's eyes went dream-hurt as she stopped cutting carrots for the salad… but resumed after a few dramatic facial expressions. Meilin laughed at the expressions.

After the dinner both washed up the dishes and went to their beds and were still talking about stuff until…

"You know something Mei…" Saya took a pause to look at the girl and if she's caught her attention… "When my pats passed away, I didn't cry." Saya breathed deeply. "I was in the car too, but I survived… had my onii-chan didn't pushed open my side of the door and forced me out, I'd have died too, I was thirteen and was still recovering from my vocal cords problem, couldn't speak properly, many a times I couldn't even speak a word properly, the friends I had back then bullied me, and the next day I met Ayumi and Troy who became my best friends, I was 14 when a few drunk tourist guys tried to molest me while I was on the way back home from the movie me and my cousins and friends had been to, if Troy and Tristan Onii-Chan had not been there I don't think I could've even looked at myself in the mirror now, and have been scared to be in a relationship ever since, I used to miss everything I had here dearly, I wished I could've just not asked my pats to take me to the amusement park that night and may be they would've been still alive and life would've been easy… I never told that to anyone before. And had there not been my family and friends to save me every single time I don't know what would have become of me…" She let out a deep sigh.

"I've been keeping that to myself all this time…" Meilin stared at Saya without a word, she didn't had a clue what to say…

"You know you've got a real good pack of friends and family who care about you…" Saya smiled at the wide ruby eyed girl who too gave a faint smile…

"So… What's the deal with Feng Chang? I'm sorry but I happened to come see you after the lunch when you were at the hospital wing, I didn't meant to eavesdrop but my shoe lace were stuck in the door of the room you were in…" Saya scratched the back of her head… a habit she formed when she'd get nervous.

Meilin was quite for a while, her expression was emotionless…

"if you don't wanna talk about it then…" But Mei interrupted her, explaining everything but left out on the details about Touya Kinomoto. Saya could make out the tears forming in the corner of Mei's eyes.

"You know I used to have a crush on the candy man who used to sell candies here when I was 5… I even thought I'd marry him and we'd live in a house full of candy and we'd have candies to eat day in and day out… I even thought we'd have babies made up of candies…" both the girls erupted in a fit of laughter…

"And what? You'd save them from being eaten up by ants… or other kids?!" Another fit of laughter emerged.

Okay now the camera shows Touya flickering through the channels on TV…

"Kids these days…" Touya sighed as he switched off the TV which was showing Shin Chan, and headed off to bed.


	6. Something, something

Chapter 6. Something, something…

Days… weeks… months passed by and it was already about half a year here in Tomoeda. Almost 6 months passed, since she last saw her family back in Spain, since she last had been to a movie, since she last had yelled at Troy to stop teasing her, since she last threw an object at her cousin bro for calling her squeaky turtle, since she last had been to the farm and played dart at the scare-crow and not ended up throwing the dart at somewhere else especially almost hitting her cousin bro… 'bad shooter'… she thought.

Sayuri sulked in the physics' class missing everyone back in Spain. She almost tripped in the seat when the teacher asked her about gravity… which she didn't paid much attention to… and absent mindedly replied… - "I think Newton should've sat under the palm tree instead of the apple tree sir, then he might have immediately got the formula inside his thick head…!" this answer landed her in detention while the whole class took a long time helping themselves from the fit of laughter. Even when the students stopped laughing, the teacher began laughing alone earning himself a disgusting look from students.

"What's up with you today?" Meilin asked they gathered at the school gates at the end of the day.

"Nothing…" Saya replied giving her the puppy eyed look with tears in it…

"I think she's missing Spain…" Tomoyo replied.

"No I'm not…" Saya gave To-chan the same look, everyone sweat dropped but with additional pout look.

"Aw poor baby missing her Mommy…?" Tsubasa replied and regretted immediately when everyone shot him the –shut-up-or-we'll-kick-your-ugly-rare-so-bad-it'd-hurt-to-sit look.

"Nope, she's missing being called a squeaky turtle…" Saya looked up behind her to find her cousin Onii-Chan and her two best friends standing behind her…

"Onii-san!" She gave a big hug to her cousin bro.

"Hey get off me! You Maneater!"

"Me no maneater!" She swatted at her onii-chan's left shoulder.

"Watch it little girl! Or I'll make you sit in the grave yard alone!" he gave a devious smile and some of the girls giggled behind the group... Saya cowered and shrugged the feeling off and hugged her two other best friends and introduced them to the group…

"So how long are you here?" She pointed her finger at her cousin.

"Long enough to make your life hell…" Tristán replied.

"He's got a job here…" Ayumi said.

"No way! is the company out of their mind or they just can't see their company in peace?!" Saya took a pause… "What about Ramona?" Saya asked about his long time girlfriend.

"She broke up with me… she didn't want me to leave…" Tristán replied with his hands up.

"You seem quite glad about it…!" Saya winked at her bro, she knew her bro had a secret crush on Ayumi, she found out when she accidentally got her hands on his diary while they were all playing hide and seek…

Tristán had a cool air of personality, he had jet black hairs just like Saya but had snake eyes. He had a muscular built not too muscular though, you could call him a Roman Prince for that matter. And he has this gorgeous smile that girls would drool over and not to mention his well chiseled abs that'd kill any girl if he takes his shirt off. He was currently clad in white cotton shirt and dark blue denims. Had a shark's tooth like pendant that hung around his neck in a dark black thread like chain. He was 5 years elder than Saya and 4 years by Ayumi.

Along the way everyone got quite familiar to each other, but it was Troy who didn't spoke a word through all the way, he was just overwhelmed looking at Saya after such a long time, and he simply kept glancing at her whenever she didn't looked at him. This never went unnoticed by Ayumi but she suppressed her giggles. Most of the time it was Tristán and Saya who were arguing with each other on the way.

"Oh My God!" Saya slapped her forehead, "I'm getting late for my job!" Saya said as they entered the Tsuchiura residence and hurried her way to the bedroom and changed and dashed out of the house saying she'll meet them at dinner.

She made it in time to her job and left half an hour early taking the manager's permission. On her way back bought a few snacks and just as she was to her way back to her bicycle she bumped into someone and dropped her bags, and was falling back but the person she bumped into caught her by her wrists just in time…

"I think it iS your habit to fall…" Touya chuckled and Saya's heart's beats paced…

'if only someone's there to catch me…' Saya thought…

"I just didn't saw you…" Saya trailed off as she forced herself to not stare in his eyes and to pick up the bags. Touya knelt down to help her as well and accidentally bumped his forehead with hers… "Ow!" Saya breathed out.

"Sorry…" Touya handed her, her bags. And asked if she'd like to help him with the grocery items and then he'd leave her in his car… to which she agreed thinking 'Well better find out than keep thinking about it all night long…'

"Have you decided on what you're gonna do at the school festival?" Touya asked as he pushed the cart in the store and picking off the products from the shelves that were enlisted.

"Umm… Tomoyo and Sakura were suggesting me to take part in the play and help them with the cafeteria…" She pointed towards a corn flour pack and continued, "But I haven't made up my mind yet about it, I once did a play back in Spain but I terribly sucked at acting, what should've been a serious play but I turned into a hilarious one…"

"And may I ask what made it funny?"

"Well I kept falling in that gown, I'm not used to wearing dresses and that medieval dresses were suffocating me and the language… Sheesh, I kept forgetting them and used my own lines instead"

"Yeah I heard what you replied to Mr. Kanagawa at the Physics' class when you spaced out…" They both laughed for a good while. And boy was it a sight, she kept staring at him for that while.

"What?" Touya asked.

"I haven't heard you laugh that good since a long time…" she smiled at him and moved along to the other section of the store. Touya was struck for a few moments before he himself moved after her in the other section. The rest of the time, they enjoyed the company. She informed him about Tristán, he too was a good friend with him, and also informed about her friends that were here only for a week.

"Don't forget to invite your friends and Tristán at the school festival… I'll catch up with him when he's free…" Touya dropped Saya and her bicycle at her place and waved her goodnight.

Meanwhile Troy was looking through the window waiting for her to come back. And the sight of her being so friendly with Touya got his blood boiling.

"Hey everyone I'm home!" Tristán took the bags of snacks she bought from her hands.

"Ya know I met your old pal while shopping… He told me that he'll be catching up with you sometime soon…"

"Touya still lives here?" Tristán asked as he placed all the things at their respective places.

"Did you forgot? He's our next door neighbor…!"

"He's your homeroom teacher you say…"

"Yeah… What's for the dinner? I'm starved!"

"Lookie… lookie… the squeaky turtle has no patience and manners… do you always treat your guests like this? it should've been you, the one to cook the dinner!" He waved the spatula in her face.

"Oh I thought you were family…" She made her puppy eyes look… faking hurt. "Poor little girl, wakes up early in the morning only for a glass of juice and honey spread toasts… then she gotta ready her lunch, then go to school and she suffer all the subjects barely surviving some of em', and then the poor little girl has to go to work and when she comes home she only gets to stuff her tummy with instant noodles…? Oh the poor fate has no mercy on her… and now her family members don't even appreciate her efforts…" A sad music playing in the background while she knelt at the floor looking like a tragedy queen…

"Enough with your poor little girl drama, I'm used to it, don't you know?"

"Hehe… it's been almost 6 months since I last used it… Sheesh I've lost my magic…!" Saya scratched the back of her head while giving out a nervous laugh.

"Come on now Saya, we all are starving…" Ayumi replied while she came down the stairs to watch Saya's poor-little-girl drama.

"Yeah, I agree… this slow-poke cooks real slow…!" Saya blamed her cousin.

"Well if you're so starved then can't you give a little help!" Tristán complained.

"Eh we girls deserve some vacation from kitchen ya know… You can use that brat over there" she pointed her blame-eee finger at Troy while she skipped towards her room to get fresh and change.

"She's way too happy!" Ayumi exclaimed while staring at the retreating figure, "Well I might as well catch up with her for all this time…" Ayumi made her way towards Saya's room whistling…

"These girls always get their way…" Tristán went back to cooking.

"When are you gonna tell her…?" Tristán asked.

"Dunno…" replied Troy.

"You do realize she's oblivious to obvious and I'm afraid someday she might as well be oblivious to her own feelings… that girl is something…" Tristán stated to his sister's friend.


	7. A story forgotten

Chapter 7. A Story Forgotten…

Later that night Tristán, Troy and the girls stayed up and made up for all the past 6 months… after that everyone went to sleep… guys retired to her deceased onii-chan's room while the girls retired to Saya's room. She had taken off for a week from her job due to her friends and the school festival. She still hadn't decided on what task she'd be taking the part in…

in the morning Saya had arguments with Tristán and then left for school, it was compulsory to attend the school during the festival week. Tristán had the meeting with the new company he was transferred to, Troy and Ayumi were just gonna hang out in the town until the other two returned.

in the first period, that was undoubtedly of the homeroom teacher… Touya Kinomoto. Each class had to perform a play at the festival, and this class was to perform the famous Romeo and Juliet…

"Remember the time Sakura? When it was Syaoran who landed the sleeping beauty's role…" Tomoyo giggled at Syaoran's flushed face.

"Yeah, he looked super cute in the gown designed by Tomoyo…" Eriol complimented the dark-blue eyed girl who gave a shy smile.

"Don't tell me you're turning gay now, are you? Cause if you are, you better stay away from me! I belong to my Sakura, my sweetheart!" Syaoran chuckled.

"Don't worry, even if I were turning gay, I wouldn't go for an ugly bull like you…" Eriol retorded.

"I ain't as half ugly as you look besides you just called me super cute a few moments ago…" Syaoran shot back.

"I think these two are turning gay…!" Chiharu gasped causing Syaoran and Eriol to look with a murderous rage at her.

"You know where the gay thing began from…?" Yamazaki interrupted.

"No one's interested Yamazaki-kun" Chiharu pulled Yamazaki by the ear…

When Touya entered the class everyone had to take their respective seats… Touya announced everyone to pick up a piece of paper from the bowl which contained the position/character they are gonna be taking in the play…

"Costume designer/The Nurse!" Tomoyo smiled contently, already glad at the ideas of designing costumes for everyone.

Eriol looked down at his cheat… "Juliet! No frigging way!" Syaoran laughed but ceased when Sakura held her cheat up… "Romeo…!" Sakura sulked thinking it's not Syaoran to play the other protagonist of the play…

Chiharu and Yamazaki were to be Juliet's parents while Naoko and Tsubasa were to play Romeo's pats. Rika was in the crew member and Meilin was assigned to be "Rosaline", she had a heavy blush while saying it out loud. And guess what role Syaoran got?

Any guesses?

Syaoran's "Count Paris", he frowned.

"Holy Crap! Not me!" Saya's frowned looking at the cheat in her hand that read 'Script Writer and Co-ordinator', "Kinomoto-Sensei…? Can't I exchange my role with Rika-chan please?" She made the most sympathetic puppy dog eyes ever…

"No, can't do!" Touya sweat dropped as he found it extremely hard to suppress his smile at the most cutest look she was giving and in not giving-in on her request…

Touya cleared his throat again, and stated, "I hope you all have registered yourselves in 2-3 more activities besides this play, which as many of you already know is compulsory… and now since it's school's festival week you guys can go and help others with the preparations, don't bother carrying books this week." He gathered up his attendance sheet and packed it in his bag and was about to leave the class when, he turn around and wished everyone luck for their tasks…

The rest of the day at school Saya kept sulking in and out at the possibilities of her messing up the play… Even Syaoran kept digging death glares at Eriol every now and then as if threatening to keep his hands off of his girlfriend, Tomoyo was already excited to design the costumes for everyone, Meilin still couldn't stop thinking about the time when she glimpsed at Touya while she took out the piece of paper from the bowl that's what got her face blushing to begin with. Rika was as usual happy to see her friends happy. The whole class helped the other classes with the posters, banners and what-nots… Meanwhile Saya had to write the script and she didn't know how to begin it with, she retired herself to the music room unbeknownst to anyone else. She felt the need to take out the stress on the music…

Saya found the music room, and saw no-one in the vicinity, so she closed the door behind her as she entered… She looked at each and every instrument present there, and although the guitar was the only instrument that fascinated her more than other, somehow she didn't felt like using it, hence, she settled down on the piano… And although she had roughly taken the Piano lessons because her aunt pushed her into it, but at the current moment she was thankful to her maternal aunt… She took out her pen and a note pad from her bag and set it on the piano…

We were both young when I first saw you…

I close my eyes and the flash back starts

I'm standing there… on the balcony in summer air

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns,

I see you make your way through crowd and say hello…

Little did I know…

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,

And my daddy said stay away from Juliet,

And I was crying on the stair case begging you – plz don't go…

And I said…

Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

it's a love story baby just say… yes…

She wasn't that fond of the play, but she was determined to change the ending, it bugged her to even think about two lovers having such a miserable fate… she stopped to write down the stanza…

So I sneak out to the…

She heard the Music room's door slide open…

"So it was you … that figures…" Touya marched into the room and took the students' seat and closed his eyes to listen the song and imagine the screenplay…

A few moments later…

"What you waiting for…? Go ahead…" He opened his eyes to find that Saya had stoned and egg eyed.

"Something bugging you…?" Cricket's voice can be heard in the background, and Saya was still stoned and egg eyed.

"Well?" Touya had his one of the eyebrows arched up.

"I… I… Uh… I'm a bathroom singer…" Her face turned red as a tomato when that came out earning a sweat dropped and dot eyed look on Touya's face, "That came out wrong… Hehe" She again scratched the back of her head, "I mean I can't sing in front of anyone else… phobia I guess?"

"Well then close your eyes and there won't be a single soul to judge ya…" Touya said but he still didn't budge from his position.

"Ya know you can use that song at the end of the play if you want, might earn our class the prize…" Touya looked up to see a horrified/morbid look on her face that made him sweat drop again.

"it ain't like I'm sending you on a World War iii!" but then he thought the otherwise since the look on her face didn't change…

He got up and sat next to her on the piano, and started to play the music she wrote, he wasn't sitting too close to her but still she felt her heart beat hike up like a volcano.

"Remember…? You and Sakura used to always look at me and Hiro when we would be practicing our Piano lessons…" Touya said while correcting a few nodes here and there…

She remembered what she had almost forgotten… it was a week before the accident when she and Sakura sat and listened the wonderful duet piano piece both the guys were playing, she remembered the tune faintly, as if it was at the back of her mind but still couldn't figure it out… and if she remembered correctly the song the guys were playing was written by Sakura's mother…

"I do, but I can't find it in me to sing or play in front of anyone else…" her voice was barely audible, and Touya had already stopped playing the Piano too, but he did managed to hear what she said, every single word.

"You write beautiful songs… don't let anything stop you from showing what you got" Touya smiled at her, the very-very rare smile, which made her heart melt like an ice cube in a hot furnace… Poof!

"Besides what use is the skill if it can't be used or shown to others…"

"What did you mean by 'it figures'when while you entered the room…" she trailed off again, contemplating whether it'd be wise to ask him that and hence she didn't made any eye contact while she said that…

"Well that's because this ain't the first time I heard you sing…" He said while he turned his gaze to the notepad… "You still need to work on your piano lessons…" that earned him the same egg eyed look on her face.

Someone's cell phone suddenly went off, Touya and Saya both turned around to look at the source… and there stood Meilin with tears rolling down her face…

"Hey…" Saya cheerly began but then noticed the tears… "What's wrong Mei-chan?" Saya got off the piano seat and started to make her way towards Meilin… but Meilin couldn't find it in herself to answer any questions that'd Saya plop… she ran and ran, far away from their vicinity.

"I think I should check on her…" Saya was about to leave when Touya handed her, her stuff… she figured he was acting like a brother figure… somehow that felt creepy to her, she took the stuff and dashed off behind her friend.


	8. An unrequited heart

Chapter 8. An unrequited heart…

Meilin ran and ran, far away from their vicinity as she could, no one was in the ground since everyone was busy in the class rooms planning and helping each other, she didn't felt the tears running down her own cheeks, as if she felt numb all over, she kept her pace and ended up bumping into the last person she'd wanna see at the moment… her fiancé.

He was just trying to find his fiancé, he had a bad feeling, as if something was bound to sour up… while his way towards the water fountain he found someone running right towards the gate, he thought it was Meilin so he called after her but she didn't seem to catch his voice, he figured she was going to her home, but he saw the tears falling down her cheeks, so he hurried after her but she was quite a few distance away so he took a short cut and waited in the penguin park and just when he thought he heard running footsteps he turned around and Meilin bumped right into him.

"You sure run fast…!" they had fallen down with Meilin atop him and so he helped her sit up, she still was shaking crying uncontrollably… He figured that she wouldn't directly say anything, being so stubborn as she was, so he hugged her and tried to soothe her.

"it's gonna be alright… shshhhhh…." He started to rub her back to soothe her more but she pushed him, "Go away! I don't need you!" it hurt him to hear those words, harsh but he knew she didn't meant them, she never means a single thing she says when she's angry, he knew that, but it still stung him.

"Like hell you don't need me!" He said and hugged her again, this time she didn't pushed him away but instead kept crying in his arms… After a while that looked like years to him, when she stopped crying, he told her… "You know you look ugly when you cry…" he chuckled when she punched him while still hugging him, "You look ugly even when you don't cry…!" she shot back.

"So I see you were checking me out… I knew it was you who spread the rumors about me being hot!" she laughed like hell to his retort… he simply kept looking at her with an amused expression for few moments "I did not!"

"Come on let's get you some ice-cream…" he stood up and gave out a hand to her to help her get up, she kept staring at it for some time but then she took it anyways.

"I'd like that…" she gave a faint smile… He kissed her forehead and wiped her tear stains away.

While eating ice cream her expression saddened when she looked at her fiancé from the corners of her eyes…

"You don't have to look at me if it hurts you so much…" he said still staring away at the penguin in the park…

"it's not like that… I… well… just that…" she took a deep breath, "You were right, I should just get along with our families' arrangements about us… and you can say 'I told you so…' if you want…"

"I don't wanna marry you now…" He took a pause to look if it had any effect on her, which probably did, she was surprised but he couldn't make it if it was for good or bad… so he continued "Take your time, let's get to know each other better… We can start from the scratch…" He smiled at her heartily….

She smiled back, "You know I wonder if you'd love me more than that old fool…" this time it caused her a giggle.

Saya had heard the whole conversation… she had arrived right after Meilin bumped into Feng Chang so she hid behind the large tree right behind the pair. What she heard was enough to make out that the crush Mei had was on none other than their homeroom teacher… and that she was just practicing in the music room, seriously… and that she must have gotten things wrong… She figured she can sort things out with Mei later after all the pair needed to be alone… so she did when they walked away hand in hand while with their respective other hands helped them eat their ice-creams…

Finally when the school got over, she started to pack her stuff and leave from the music room which now only held her and the instruments… Touya had to go to the teacher's meeting, so when she started to leave the room she found him getting out of his office…

"How's Lee-chan?" Touya asked while they both made their way out of the building…

"I couldn't find her, I thought I might talk to her later after the school… she might need some space…" she lied. Touya looked towards her and made a mental note 'Horrible liar'.

When out of the building Touya took another route, I.e. towards the teacher's parking lot, while she joined Sakura and the gang to make her way home… but while nearing the gate she saw familiar figure waiting there…

"Oi, where's Mei-chan?" Sakura asked to no one in particular…

"She had told me she'd be leaving early today, in the morning…" Syaoran replied.

"Oh…" Sakura trailed off… everyone was too busy to notice how quite Saya was…

"Guys see ya tomorrow, I gotta go now… take care" Saya waved and made her way towards Troy.

"There you are!" Troy said as he and she both started walking, "How was the day?"

"Not quite as I expected… I got to write a script on Romeo and Juliet…" she trailed off noticing that Ayumi was missing… "Where's Ayu-chan?" Troy didn't reply, "Did you hurt her again...?"

"Look Saya I don't like her the way she does alright! But that don't mean I'll hurt her… She's my friend! And she's at home preparing meals for us."

He said holding his hands up in the air, "I started dating other girls and she got the picture, after you left that is…" Troy tried his best to move on… "But," he took a pause…

"But what?" Saya asked with exasperation.

"But I still can't budge the feelings I have for you…" Saya was totally confused.

"What do you mean?" Saya demanded.

"Saya I've been in love with you since ages…" Saya looked hurt as if she was being suffocated…

"Troy, I…" She looked away, not having the courage to look him in the eyes, "I'm sorry, You're my friend but I don't feel that way… you know I… I hate relationships… I" She was trembling, the same feelings that night when she was almost molested came rushing back to her…

"it's okay I know but I just wanted to let you know that… and I know you don't feel the same for me… I needed to tell you that so that it'd help me move on, I won't have regrets that I never tried or never let you knew about it… so that's that…" He trailed off, but they resumed their way back to home quite much in silence until he broke it…

"Just in case you wanna pull your friend's leg… She's dating your onii-san…"

"WHAT!" She let out a light squeal, and an evil grin spread across her features… later they acted like no one fall for any one in their group… like they were still as good friends as in the kindergarten…

At the end of the night everyone had to help Sayuri with her project… I.e. scripting for the play…

With the help of her best friends and onii-chan she made an awesome script for the play… after everyone had fallen asleep she even managed to complete the song… she did wanna give it a try about singing the song at the end of the play, but then she decided something else…

[I'm gonna skip to the festival now, if you want the fun and the lots of laughing material about their practice, you'll have to read on a different story that'd be named THE ROMEO'S JULiET, since this one is getting too lengthy so don't wanna bore out my readers…]


	9. Would it really matter

Chapter no. 9. Would it really matter…?

The day of the school's festival arrived and the play was the first to begin… many other classes were done with their plays but our CCS gang's was the last number…

The Gang was already done with the play, it was Saya's turn to sing the song… She had previously decided that she'd let Moyo do the singing after all she had a melodious voice… but Moyo refused saying she already was piled up till her throat with all the lines and the costumes thing, and that the one who writes the song should be the one to sing it… it's called honoring thyself and thy music.

Saya peeked at the audience from the back stage… and started to hyperventilate, Meilin was standing right behind her… (they had patched up their things, Saya knew Mei's secret but swore to keep it to herself and she also told him that Kinomoto-Sensei was just helping her with the song to that Meilin replied that she's getting along fine with her Fiancé and that he's really very sweet… )

"You know you can do this… it's not like if you make a mistake and they'll throw pop-corn on you or boo you or video tape the whole scenario and upload it on the youtube…" Meilin tried to reason with her but obviously she hit the wrong nerve… causing Saya to almost make the run for the door when she bumped into Touya…

"You're not trying to run away or are you really chickening out?" Touya chuckled…

"I was not, Mei-chan told me bring her make-up stuff…" She pointed at Meilin who looked amazing in her crimson gown that had European ethnicity, enhancing her already pretty face and figure… Touya took a quick look and pointed a blame-eee finger at Saya… "L-I-A-R! You should know better since you suck at lying! She's never the make-up girl" Meilin was already over with this guy but she did appreciate that he did knew her a little. But she did gave Saya a –you-are-mean look who just gave her the same look…

"Go on… You are no long a sealion's snort ya know…" she was about to retaliate when she found her phobia was already replaced with something she didn't knew…

She made it on the stage, and almost chickened out when she saw the curtains rising… but Touya had already figured the way out for her and told the back stage crew to dim the light so much that it'd look almost like a dark room… the spot light was shining on her…

She made her way towards the Piano, and took her seat… she couldn't figure out any one in the dark and hence had no phobia, she took a look infront of her towards the curtain, where at the back of it stood Touya who gave her an appreciative smile…

She started with the music… closed her eyes, and started the song…

While the starting node of the piano, slowly in the background the curtain started to rise revealing the casts of the play and reenacting the play in a short preview…

We were both young when I first saw you…

I close my eyes and the flash back starts

I'm standing there… on a balcony in summer air

See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns,

I see you make your way through crowd and say hello…

Little did I know…

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,

And my daddy said stay away from Juliet,

And I was crying on the stair case begging you – plz don't go…

And I said…

Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

it's a love story baby just say… yes…

So I sneak out to the gardens to see you

We keep quite cause we're dead if they knew

So close your eyes

Escape this little town for a while

Ha… Ha… cause you were Romeo

I was a scarlet letter,

And my daddy said

Stay away from Juliet

But you were everything to me I was begging you please don't go…

And I said…

Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone

I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run

You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess

it's a love story baby just say… yes…

Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel

This love is difficult but it's rea…al

Don't be afraid we'll make it out of this mess

it's love story baby just say yes…

Oh oh…

I got tired of waiting

Wondering if you were ever coming around

My faith in you is fading

When I met you on the outskirts of town

And I said

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone

I keep waiting for you but you never come

is this in my head? I don't know what to think

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said

Marry me Juliet, You'll never have to be alone

I love you and that's all I really know

I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress

it's a love story, baby just say yes…

Oh oh…

Cause we were both young when I first saw you…

Everyone cheered and applauded, it was the best play of the festival… and so was given the prize… All the other classes cheered them on too…

Finally she peeked towards the curtain, where her homeroom teacher should've been… but, he wasn't there… it made her a little disappointed. Meilin whispered to Saya's ears, "He left after the applause…"

Later she tried to find him around the festival but then she wasn't much able to as she was pulled to be the waitress at the cafeteria…

She was serving hot chocolates to the customers, Meilin and Sakura served Cakes and Tomoyo served beverages, the guys were assigned in the kitchen… The guys were dressed into dark brown waiter's outfit while the girls wore a black dress that ended upto their mid-thigh with knee high socks and their dresses were adorned with a lacy apron. And their hairs were all tied up in a pony tail.

Saya was forced to help her friends by her friends…

When Saya had lost all her hope to look for Touya and to thank him, he was the final customer along with Yukito who was dating Akizuki, and her onii-san and her Spain friends…

"Oooh… Saya-chan looks so hot in that outfit!" Akizuki screeched… causing everyone to turn their heads to Saya and sure enough she was way too embarrassed… "Sakura-Chan looks so adorable…!" she screeched again, but Sakura just sweat dropped. "Oh look Mei-Chan and Moyo-Chan look hot too but in a cute way…!" she still screeched…

"God Nakuru! Keep it down!" Yuki lightly scowled her…

Touya didn't looked at Saya, but did kept himself busy looking into his phone while he kept his conversation going with his old mate Tristán…

Troy on the other hand, just kept staring at Saya… Ayumi gave him a big glare… not out of jealousy though… Everyone started to take the seats at the table but Touya noticed how Troy was still eyeing Saya so while on his way to take a seat he purposely stepped quite harshly on his foot, causing Troy to glare at him and yelp as well while Ayumi giggled…

Saya on the other hand was struggling to stay inside the kitchen while everyone else was trying to push her outside, "Look this wasn't the part of the deal! I don't wanna be in a dress and much less in a skimpy too little outfit it makes me look like a teenage whore!" she whined and received deadly glares from everyone else…

"You don't look like a whore okay…! it's just that nobody ever saw you in a dress and this was the only uniform left…!" Tomoyo replied.

"School uniform is a dress!" She pouted.

"Yeah but it goes below the knee level… and this… well just ends a few inches above the knees… which just makes your butt look…" Tsubasa trailed off drooling… Everyone pulled a dangerous Saya back while she almost made it to kick Tsubasa between the legs for he almost was gonna make a perverted comment right on her face…

"What's going on in here?" Terada Sensei stepped into the kitchen, making everyone go back to their places… "Nothing", came the unison reply from everyone in the kitchen.

"Okay there's a group outside that's not been served yet…" Terada-Sensei trailed off as he glanced at Rika and passed a hearty smile which she returned.

Sakura came in the kitchen with everyone's orders, "3 hot chocolates, 2 cakes and 3 coffees…".

"There you go, be a nice little girl…" Tomoyo handed Saya her tray and patted her head as if patting a dog… Saya barked at her in irritation…

"Alright, so anything else?" Saya asked quite half heartedly but it didn't showed in her tone, everyone's reply was a negative so she smiled and went back to the kitchen… "So… Am I done now?" She asked and everyone nodded thanking eachother, later everyone left along with the last customers, I.e., Kinomoto-Sensei, Tristan and Ayumi. Meilin had already left with her fiancé, saying they were going on a date and Troy had something to deal with, Tsukishiro was dragged by his noisy girlfriend to the other stalls while Yelan had called Syaoran and Eriol for family meeting in which Meilin was given an exception… Tomoyo was picked up by her bodyguards.

On the way back home it was only Touya, Tristan, Ayumi, Sakura and Saya. Sakura remembered something and so as fast as the thought popped in her head the other moment it was out of her mouth… "Onii-san are you really leaving your job as our teacher?" The suddenness of the question made Touya almost pop his eyeballs out.

"And where did that came to you?"

"I heard you talking on the phone last night …"

"You shouldn't eavesdrop Kaijuu…"

"I wasn't! I came downstairs to eat some snacks…"

"Hungry Kaijuu…"

"Stop calling me a monster! And you're dodging the question…"

Tristan gave him a knowing a look, which all in all made the younger girls very confused.

"Yeah, I got this offer from a nice company so I'd be moving to some other place, but it's gonna take time" Touya replied but didn't had a single trace of emotion to it.

'Moving away…?' it kinda resonated in Saya's head.

"So, you're gonna leave us?" Sakura had a hurtful look as she stopped in her tracks…

"it's not decided yet, anyway it's not like I can leave a hungry monster all alone at home by herself, God knows, if she'd eat up the whole house…"

"Sakura no Kaijuu…!" She stamped Touya's feet causing him to clutch his feet, while Sakura smiled for her victory crossing her arms around herself. Saya giggled knowing that he did it on purpose.

Sakura, Saya and Ayumi kept chatting at the back while Touya and Tristan were talking to each other.


	10. It still hurts

Chapter 10. it still hurts…

After schools' festival Saya and Tristan took Troy and Ayumi for sight-seeing, shopping, etc. After the week was over Ayumi and Troy left for Spain with Ayumi promising to take a transfer here in the next year so she could be close to her best friend and boyfriend.

A few more weeks passed by but still whenever the thought crossed her mind she'd sulk, she still couldn't figure out the reason why. She blankly stared at the bored, and the equations written across it, but her mind wandered in her own kingdom of thoughts. She was lost.

"Moving away…" she whispered to herself. 'I moved away from my family, but that was the different thing right? Why is it such a big deal for me…?' she sighed, 'Sakura said he'll keep visiting, why am I thinking about it so much' she banged her head on the desk lightly. 'it's not like I'm in love with him… AM I?' Her face heated up with a worried look and got her face off of the desk, 'No, no-no-no it can't be, I like him, but he's like a brother to me' she slapped herself for thinking like that. 'it's not like I fell from the tree and stuck in his arms of love… NO, THAT'S NOT iT… THAT'S JUST NOT iT! OKAY so I did fell from the tree but I'm certain it's not love…' another worried expression was written right across her forehead, 'I don't even know what's love, I mean he's my sensei and I'm too young, he'd probably reject me saying you're like my younger sister, and you even study in the same class as my sister, you're my neighbor, you're my student, you're my deceased best pal's younger sister…' she counted all the excuses on her fingers… 'Wait why am I counting things again? Oh right summing up why he'd reject me, and why am I doing that again?' she made a disgusting face for herself. 'I'm going nuts… I shouldn't think like that at all… Okay think about something else… The teacher writing equation on the board… Oh this lecture is so boring… I wish it was Kinomoto-sensei's lecture… Not again?' She slapped her head by now, 'Baka baka baka… get your head out of the gutter! He's not into kids! I'm not a kid, I'm a teenager and a high schooler, but someday I'll be his wife and we'll have kids…' a smile spread across her lips but then again her battle /world war iii was being watched by almost everyone in the class.

"WHAT iS WRONG WiTH ME!" she let out an exasperated yelp…

"I'd like to ask the same Tsuchiura-Chan…" The teacher asked while his attention did not budge from the board… "Detention!", everyone couldn't help their laughter.

After detention Saya was just about to reach the gates of her High School when she heard someone calling her name, she turned around to find Eriol, Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo and Meilin making their way towards her.

"Hey there! What were you guys upto?" Saya gave a simple smile.

"Nothing the guys had a long soccer practice session and girls had…"

"Cheerleading Practice!" Meilin squealed and threw her arms over Eriol and Saya.

"Someone's quite cheerful today…" Saya stated.

"Oh yup that's me! Guess what?"

"You threw the baton at the cheerleading coach?" Everyone laughed remembering the time when Meilin had mistaken threw the baton on the coach which landed her in the first aid wing of the high school.

"I did that on purpose! And no I didn't do that this time…"

"I was just kidding Mei-Chan"

"I know, but you know what? Our school's going for a trip! I'm so glad!" Meilin almost choked Eriol and Saya.

"Mei-Ch… you'r… suffocat…"

"Oh sorry! I got carried away…"

"Gee I never knew you were so strong Mei-Chan!" Eriol said massaging his neck.

Mei giggled and went to talk to Tomoyo… Syaoran and Sakura were holding each other's hands and were also talking about the trip...

"So you coming?" Eriol asked noticing she was still quite spaced out.

"I guess so" She gave a smile.

The pairs kept talking to each other and were discussing about the trip all the way, what no one noticed was that a certain pair of midnight blue eyes were glued on the pair walking up quite farther than them… Saya and Eriol.

it still rang in her mind, the words Naoko said on the first day of the High School… "There Tomoyo-chan you're future boyfriend's flirting!" Unbeknownst to anyone Tomoyo did had feelings for Eriol, everyone used to just kid about them, but no one seriously thought it through.


	11. Cherishing Momeries

Chapter 11. Cherishing memories…

it was a bright day, and everyone was on the bus heading to the trip's spot. it was a 3 days-long trip to a ski spot and back. Saya was still being spaced out every now and then, she just couldn't budge the feeling of letting him go… she didn't knew what she was feeling, she needed someone to talk about it… she was looking out the window of the bus. The seat next to her was empty.

"Syaoran I love you…"

"I love you too… my cherry blossom…" Syaoran and Sakura were about to kiss when Eriol made a face and headed over to Saya's seat.

"What's bugging you?" Eriol asked as he sat next to her.

"Nothing…" Saya faked a smile and moved a few strands of hair that was obscuring her view.

"Did anyone told ya before you suck at lying?" Saya just stuck her tongue out as the reply.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah Mommy!"

"Hey…! well then I guess I'll have to talk to your dad about you spacing out in lectures, I'm sure he'll be glad to find you a new mommy to talk to…" He gestured towards the couple who were engaged in kissing.

"Hehehe… When you gonna tell her?"

"Tell who, what?" Eriol asked expressionless.

"Do I have to take her name?" 'Busted' Eriol thought…

"I'm not sure about it, I mean let's not get into that talk…"

"Oh come on, I'm sure she likes ya… I bet she's looking at us at the moment…" Eriol just peeped at the seat towards the other row in the back and sure he did find Tomoyo looking at them, he just waved his hands towards the two girls… Tomoyo and Naoko who just sweatdropped.

"How did you know…?"

"You really should let her know." She said as she punched him in the arm… "You're being a big meanie!"

"Okay fine! it's time I find you a new daddy any way… your, current dad is cheating on me…" He faked tears now…

Saya couldn't help but laugh out.

"I'm sure he's trying to fish that chick." Naoko said being the clueless girl she was, Tomoyo diverted her gaze and now found the scenery fascinating.

After sometime the bus took a halt. Everyone got out of the bus to relieve their backs which were having terrible aches, the teachers too got out of their bus and headed towards the cafeteria for some refreshments. Saya on the other hand had already found herself a burger and was currently taking a few cam shots of a small girl who was playing with her friend near the tree… then after a few shots she turned towards the cafeteria and took a pic of her friends all seated on a certain red colored table… She took several shots. Then finally she joined the group, of which she took the seat next to Tomoyo. "Hey everyone care for some shots?"

"You're already at it?" Meilin stated quite amused.

"Yup! Gonna name the album 'The first trip with the brats!'"

"That makes you a brat as well…" Feng commented.

"I'm not denying that…"

They took several pics, but not a single one had herself in it… after that they all gathered into the bus again and then the bus didn't took another halt until they reached their destination.

"Wow! it's awesome!" Saya palmed her face in absolute shock…

"You're unpredictable…"

"it's chilly!" she shivered from the cold breeze…

"One moment you're all charged up, the other you're shivering… want a warm hug?" Tsubasa nudged Saya earning a deathly glare.

"Stay away per-vert!" Saya said with no emotions which only had him cemented and fall as if a big destructive iron ball was thrown into him.

The rest of the day went fabulous, she had taken as many pics she could ever get her hands on… but there was still no pic that had her or of the one she wanted in her collection. She was sitting on the edge of the frozen lake near the resort they were gonna stay at... still had the camera in her hands as she adjusted the focus of it to take a wonderful shot of the crescent moon on the frozen lake, and just as she clicked it she turned around to find a few drunken tourist making their way towards the lake as well… frightened, she started to make her way towards the resort keeping a safe distance from the bunch… but still they were following her so she increased her pace. Even though she was almost at a jogging speed one of the drunkards caught her wrist.

"Hey let go… mmmph", one of the guys managed to muffle her cry for help by shoving a handkerchief down her mouth while the others were trying to help him.

"Come on sweety just have a little fun…" They picked her up and took her to a secluded spot. Just when they were about to do something dreadful, the guy who was trying to mount Saya got pulled away with an unexplainable force.

"Let the girl go…" Touya said in a vicious tone.

The drunkards tried to pick a fight but they were no match to Touya hence they left.

"You okay?" She nodded and Touya helped her to get up, she hadn't budged from the spot she was in, she was in a shock.

"Come on I'll take you to your room…" He covered her with his jacket and was leading her towards the resort but she was still in shock she wasn't moving at all… He tried a few times to help her snap out of it. But she couldn't, he had to lift her up and take her to her room. He was thankful that he got there on time. When they reached the resort, he found that everyone had retired to their rooms for it had been a long day.

When they reached her room he found her eyes fogging up with tears, it was a heart-wrenching sight for him. Just when he opened the room, the tears started flowing like a river down her face, the shock had taken a big toll on her… He couldn't help but hug her while she cried her eyes out.

"I'm sorry… I'm so… sorry…" She kept on repeating between her cries.

"it's okay, it's not your fault… calm down now…"

"I'm always causing trouble… I'm not supposed to live…"

"Hey, now where did that came from…?" He pulled her slightly away so that he could look her in the eyes.

"I'm just a burden… I was supposed to die with my family, wasn't I… I shouldn't have been alive, but I am and every other time I'm always getting into these situations… every time someone has to be around… every time someone has to be hurt because of me… what if someday no one's there to help me…? Wha…" Touya placed his thumb and first finger under her chin and slowly lifted her face, he brought his lips as close to hers as possible then finally he kissed… her cheek… cut her off with a kiss… he didn't know what came over him but he couldn't help himself. The kiss deepened… but their minds were screaming 'it was wrong no matter how right it felt'. Touya had managed to get his arms around her small waist and her hands were clutching at his shirt as if he'd be pulled away from her and that she didn't want to let him go…

But they had to pull away, breathing is necessary ppl… anyhow lets' get back to the story, in that particular moment their minds came to consciousness, he didn't knew what to do next, he was uncomfortable yet never felt better, she on the other hand, didn't knew what to do either so she just buried her face in his chest – she heighted a few inches below his shoulder – he kept her holding on.

"What makes you think that you're not needed?" her eyes flew open but she didn't moved.

"I promised Hiro that I'll protect you, no matter what… I'm here and always, forever to take care of you… don't you forget that… ever!" He pulled her away a little and stared down into her eyes, "You promised me, even if I was all alone and confused…" he kissed her other cheek softly and paused, "You'd be my strength for as long as I want… remember?" he whispered…

13 YEARS BACK

"Where's Touya?" Hiroyuki asked his other friends.

"Dunno… he was here a while ago…"

It was the 5th day after the funeral at Kinomoto's… Nadeshiko had passed away due to a terrible disease… Sakura was with her dad and he was soothing the little girl who was 3 years old at the time, she had been crying all day… ever since they returned from the funeral Touya was nowhere to be found, before he left he had told his father – he'd be back by dinner…

"You know, you don't have to be alone…"

"How did you…" Touya was taken aback since he was sitting behind a certain plum tree that was quite far away from his home and no one knew his favorite secret place, not even Hiroyuki.

"I'd always known, here…" Saya lifted her hands and gave him a gift.

"I'l be your strength for as long as you want… so please don't be upset…" she hugged him and placed a kiss on his cheek, he just let his tears fall…

PRESENT…

"I had meant that with friendly intentions… I was 3 back then…" his grasp around her waist slightly became loose as if he was about to let go… "But why does my heart always pace every time you're in the vicinity…", she paused waiting for a response but then continued, "I keep thinking about you every night before I fall asleep… I don't know why…"

"I thought of you as a brother figure when I landed up here, the first time we met… but when I fell into your arms that day something weird happened, that day made me think about you every time I was alone… I don't know why…" Suddenly his grip tightened around her again.

"Well we can always give it a try and figure it out if you want…" Touya asked while he soothed her, "and since I'm leaving the teacher's job as well, we can start considering about the two of us…"

"So are you leaving the job because of me…?" She finally looked into his eyes confusion and tears still etched in them.

"I still got that gift you gave me… back then." He slipped his right hand in his pocket still bracing her firmly with his other hand, he fished out a beautiful heart shaped pendant, which had a beautiful carving on the front and the back and it looked like it had something inside it… letting her out of his embrace for a little while he placed the pendant into her hands.

"Go ahead open it…"

"Who's she?" Touya mentally fell from the spot he was standing in.

"She's you." He sweat dropped.

"Oh… but that doesn't answer my question."

'As stubborn as ever' he thought before replying. "I had joined the job so I could keep an eye out for Sakura and that Gaki" he heard Saya giggle, "But then again he's doing a fair job at keeping out for her, so I figured I should leave it to him… then at the beginning of this year I received a job offer, I had planned to leave this job before you came…"

"Sakura told me that you'd be leaving Tomoeda…"

"Can I ask you something?" she nodded. "When I leave this town will you to come with me to Tokyo, so we could be together… You can complete your studies there too…"

"I… don't wanna be a burden on you…"

"Listen the job I'm getting pays me enough to support me, my family, and a half dozen kids… so let me be there for you." He placed a kiss on her forehead.

"College studies ain't easy and you're gonna need to concentrate solely on that, doing part time jobs will be a hindrance. I don't want you to miss out on anything more in life… and if I let Tristan pay for your studies then that'd just be a shame on me. Stop thinking you're a burden okay?"

"Wife's never a burden…" hearing this her eyes went owl-like.

"You're not asking…"

"Exactly… so will you?"

"Don't you think we're rushing…?... I mean we haven't even started dating, no one in either's family knows, plus…" he cut her off again with a kiss…

"You think a lot…" he playfully poked her forehead, "Didn't our parents joked about us growing up, falling in love and getting married…"

"But…"

"it's okay you've still got to complete your high school…"

She was about to protest when he continued, "You should change and go to sleep now… and stop worrying too much leave that on me from now on." She kept staring into his eyes. "I'll change…"

"Saya…?" he grasped her hand, "Good night, love…" Before he left he kissed her, this time on the lips, she was shocked that she responded to that kiss as well, the kiss deepened… but before things could go any further he pulled back and left.

Her first kiss… she stood there at the same spot, her fingers lying on her lips. After what felt like an eternity she left to take the bath… her mind could not budge from the things he said, from the kisses he placed… contemplating whether it was sympathy or really love on his part…

'But he kept that pendant with himself all this time… he remembered everything. But might be he's just sympathizing on me, for what happened a while ago near the lake… "Good night, love" he called me love… When did he said he started liking me?' "Wait… he never told me that…" she didn't noticed when she was done bathing and came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around herself, she didn't noticed when she sat on the sat on the bed and fell back to lie on it… but she noticed something poking into her waist…

"My camera…" She noticed the battery died, so she plugged in the charger and finally changed into her PJs and didn't noticed when the sleep consumed her.


	12. A farewell?

Chapter 12. A farewell…

it was already a about three months since the confession of love, Touya had been secretly dating Saya all along, but slowly one by one… almost everyone found out… The first ones to know about their secret were Tristan and Fujitaka… after all they had been suspecting them from the beginning. Sakura was the last one who found out about them, it was Tomoyo who had to explain it to her… well Sakura was quite oblivious to the couple, many a times had Sakura and Tomoyo walked into them coincidently at the times when they were mostly hanging out or on a date. Tomoyo easily figured it out at the second time, being the most observant in the group, but she managed to keep it to herself. Syaoran and Eriol found out from Feng who had accidently walked in on them when they were kissing while he was on a date with Meilin. He had already left the teacher's job, right after they came back from the trip.

Meilin was quite unhappy that Saya didn't tell her first, since she had been calling her best friend all this time. But Saya managed to explain her reasons.

"it's not like I'm leaving you for like ever! Baka" Touya kissed Saya's forehead, a habit he had formed within 3 months, Saya playfully punched him in the chest. Everyone else was enjoying the fare well party in the house while the couple sat on the mini terrace.

"It's just gonna take some time… It'll be over sooner than we know it."

"I hope so… Touya?"

"Hmm?"

"I… won't be coming… at the station tomorrow…"

"I understand…"

"I'm not good with the parting…"

"I know…"

They stayed silent for the rest of the time just holding each other…

Now today was the day when he was leaving for Tokyo so he could pursue his new job. Saya had decided that she won't be there to bid him farewell at the station, although she did attend his farewell party where a very emotional Sakura had stamped Touya's feet for like 100 times that day. Saya had been quite-quite since some days.

She was crying in her room while everyone else had left to bid him farewell at the station including –Tomoyo, Eriol, and Syaoran.

Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong.

The bell continuously rang, she finally opened the door to find…

"Oooh… this is the first time I saw the Monster cry so bad… Aww… you're gonna miss me ne?" Touya said while he pat his sniffling sister who was burying her nose in her cousin's arms.

"Me no Kaiju!" She turned around to stamp on his brother's swollen feet but to everyone's surprise she hugged him… "But I'll definitely miss you…!"

"I'm gonna miss you too…!" He hugged her back. "You dare not make her cry!" He rose his blame-eee finger at Syaoran who nodded with an understanding. Eh well that's a first. "Take care of Dad…" he whispered to her, she nodded. "And could you stop leaking Monster nose-goo on my favorite shirt?" That obviously earned him a stamping.

He turned around to find a smiling Saya who looked like she had been crying for ages…

"Saya! Look Onii-Chan's calling me a Monster again, even when he's leaving… ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" A complaining and whiney/pouty Sakura was dragged away by Tomoyo by the ear… Eriol and Syaoran sweat dropped and were called aside by a deathly look on Meilin's faces which said – privacy-time-idiots!

Everyone had left the couple alone for the time, "You said you won't be coming…"

"Yeah, but I hadn't told you what I should have told you…"

"You like Troy…?" He rose one of his eyebrows.

"TOUYA-SAN!" Saya frowned.

"Just kidding…" Well mentally he killed Troy in a million ways… currently he was throwing darts on the poor guy and previously he was breaking his bones via a voodoo doll (but just in his mind).

"I'm not confused anymore…" her features softened, "I love you…"

Touya smiled and kissed her, for the first time in front of everyone, and before they could start making out Touya's father coughed audibly breaking the couple's trance…

"I love you too…"

The announcement was made that the train will be leaving in a minute…

"Take care… I'll keep calling…." He whispered and got on the train, everyone waved him as the train left the platform.

"Thanks Mei…" Saya hugged her best friend.

"What are friends for…? Besides I owed you…" she signaled towards Feng.

FLASH BACK…

Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong.

The bell continuously rang, she finally opened the door to find… Meilin and Feng at her porch, of which the Lee girl looked pretty pissed…

Saya opened the door wide enough to let the two inside her house. The trio sat in the living room, with Feng sitting in the armchair and the girls sitting on the couch. Well to be more precise, Meilin was sitting with a crying Saya laying her head in Meilin's lap.

"You're not going?!"

"No…" Saya said while helplessly trying to stop the tears but they didn't.

"You look so pathetic at the moment…" Meilin shoved her handkerchief at her best friend. "What's making you cry? It's your fair and square decision!"

"I haven't told him whether I love him or not…"

"Geez! Go get dressed! WE'RE LEAViNG THiS iNSTANT! And I'm not taking no for an answer!"

"Idiot! It was you who said 'I believe one should confess their love to their loved ones, you don't know when fate takes them away…'" Meilin was infact performing the way Saya had said it… "Now go get changed and you better stop crying, you don't want him to part with that ugly crying face as your last memory before you meet again, do you…?"

The trio left in Feng's convertible…


	13. Here, now & ForEVER

Chapter no. 13 Here now and forever…

Finally the Finals and the entrance exams got over, the group was celebrating for the same.

"Hey Cherries, what you planning after this?" Syaoran asked Sakura.

"I dunno, never thought about it… I mean I had a tough time trying to decide on what to do about college in the first place… don't bother my soul to make me think about what after that…" Sakura said while embracing herself and in the process making Syaoran and the others sweatdrop.

Saya knew where this was leading to, so getting the hint she left the group excusing that she had something to deal with at home… All the couples had left one by one making one or the other excuses…

"Seems like everyone's growing apart…" Saya said to the evening sky as she was making her way to her home.

"May be, but some people are just gonna stay glued…"

"Touya!" Saya turned around to find Touya following her with his duffle bag… she embraced him with all her might, Touya had to drop his duffle bag in order to avoid falling back with her on the top.

"I missed you…" Both whispered in unison.

BACK TO ERIOL AND TOMOYO

Eriol had escorted Tomoyo to a classy 7 star restaurant. Had specially booked a variety of things and decoration for his date. He had asked the manager to specially decorate the hall, had Venetian violin players, etc, etc. He and Syaoran had formerly introduced Tomoyo and Sakura to the family, and they had granted them the permission to marry these girls. Though Yelan-Sama was already fond of the two girls but they had to ask for every other elder of the family as well, a tradition.

It was a week after the trip that Eriol "HAD TO" confess his love to Tomoyo. Eriol, Syaoran, Sakura, Tomoyo and others were playing the stones of truth or dare in the suite when Saya was out near the lake. Meilin was busy with her fiancé.

Game rules…

The stones of truth or dare… (Ok work with me people)

The two stones black and white… black signifies dare whereas the white signifies truth.

Both the stones are thrown together, just a foot above the ground… (so that they don't land on stupid people's heads).

When the black stone befalls near a contender/player he/she will give out the 'dare' to the person who has got the white stone in the possession.

When the white stone befalls near a contender/player he/she will give out the 'truth' to the person who has got the black stone in the possession.

One who refuses to comply with the truth or dare, has to confess an embarrassing fact about themselves.

The stones randomly halted at Sora and Eriol (one of the class's prissy girl who had this huge crush on Eriol and was seated beside Tomoyo), hence Sora received black and Eriol, white stone. Unluckily she dared him to resist her kiss, Eriol on the other hand knew that if he confessed his embarrassing fact he'll be caught as there was a lie detector brought to the game by none-other-than Sora. Obviously she had planned it… (His embarrassing fact is revealed later… Patience ppl). Eriol was game but was not game to lose Tomoyo, if he told the fact or he'd dare to resist her kiss either way will make him loose the one he came to love the most.

"I think he is ok with the kiss…" Sora made her way towards Eriol who was already deep in thoughts about what to do…

Tomoyo watched as Sora saunter with evilness etched across her lips towards Eriol and watched how she was molesting Eriol's lips… she tried to keep her face straight, she tried to keep the fact that she couldn't be his first kiss, when she couldn't take in the sight anymore she made up an excuse that she needed to pee… When she left, her voice worked like an alarm to Eriol who practically threw Sora away from himself, and ran after Tomoyo, who went to her suite and slammed the door shut.

"Hey Moyo…? Can we talk?"

"What?" She peeked out from her door.

"Um… are you okay?"

"Yeah definitely… why?"

"You said you had to use the washroom and you left the suite, so I thought something was wrong…"

"Oh no, I just wanted to use my washroom… now that I'm worn out, I think I need some sleep… goodnight!" just like that Tomoyo closed the door on Eriol's face, she didn't even waited for him to bid the same.

Tomoyo cried herself to sleep that night.

The other day of the trip, everything was fine. Except that two people were acting weird, Saya was acting like Tomoyo + Meilin; whereas Tomoyo was acting like Saya when Saya used to spaceout and think to herself, and finally letting out the frustration quite audibly. Anyhow Tomoyo avoided facing Eriol since that day until the day Eriol confessed his love to her…

It had been exactly five days since Tomoyo was giving Eriol the silent treatment. She'd simply react like usual in front of others but when they were alone she'd either stay silent and avoid him or simply get up and leave making an excuse. This wasn't unnoticed by the others in the group. Saya had punched him badly for not letting Tomoyo know. She practically shoved the idea to him since he came to her place and was whining like a child.

"She wouldn't talk to me…" currently this was the 3rd tissue box Saya handed him.

"She told me to go away when I asked her if she had a problem with me…"

"Oh yeah? What do you think you'd do if you saw someone else stealing Moyo's first kiss and practically with her consent?"

"I'll kill that guy then and there and I'll cut him into pieces especially his balls for having the guts to do that in front of me and then… ow! Why did you swat me for?"

"Cause you're missing the point baka!"

"What's the point? If she doesn't love me…"

"Stupid why would you cut that guy into pieces…?"

"Which guy?"

"God! You're so impossible when you're all clouded…" Saya slapped her forehead, "Tomoyo is jealous cause she thinks you don't love her, that is she loves you but is avoiding you so that she can stop loving you someday… now you get the picture?"

"But I do love her…"

"Yeah, but you need to tell her that…"

"What if she rejects me?"

"ERiOL HiRAGiZAWA! YOU'RE AN IMPOSSiBLE DIM-WIT IDIOT!" She punched the guy bad.

"Wait I've got an idea! And you're gonna work it out!"

_Saya shoved the guitar in Hiragizawa heir's hands and practically shoved him out the door…_

"_Go find a song that suits your condition, and sing to her… I.e. IF YOU LOVE HER…" she slammed the door in the face of Eriol._

"_Why is everyone shutting the door in my face these days… I just don't get it…!" _

_THE DAY_

_ It was recess time and darn it 2__nd__ day that Eriol was missing with Saya's guitar and he hadn't yet confessed his feelings for Tomoyo, currently Tomoyo was dating this guy from the school's basket ball team, well it was a blind date set up by Naoko._

"_OH MY GOD! Everyone Eriol's confessing his love to the love of his life…__ in the main hall__…" A girl practically came screaming into the class… And everyone in the class made a run for it._

"_Hey come on guy lets cheer Eriol up for it… I'm sure he's practically sweating like a pig, considering he's performing in front of everyone in the school…" Saya grabbed Tomoyo and dragged her along with Meilin and Syaoran practically pushing her… 'yeah and making a fool of himself in front of the staff as well…' Saya completed the sentence in her mind… 'Dim-wit!'_

"_This is the only song I managed to come up with… and I dedicate it to the girl I dearly love… hope she finds it in her heart to forgive me…" He managed to find Saya frantically waving at him, while she kept a firm grip on Tomoyo so that she wouldn't try to run away…_

You, do you remember?

like I remember you?

do you spend your life

Going back in your mind to that time?

cause I, I walk the streets alone

I hate being on my own

And everyone can see that

I really fell

And I'm going through hell

Thinking 'bout you with

somebody else

Chorus

Somebody wants you

somebody needs you

somebody dreams about

you every single night

somebody can't breathe

without you, it's lonely

somebody hopes that one day you will see

That somebody's me [X2]

How, how could we go wrong

it was so good and now it's gone

And I pray at night that our

paths soon will cross

and what we had isn't lost

Cause you're always right here in my thoughts

Chorus

you'll always be in my life

even if I'm not in your life

because you're in my memory

you, will you remember me

and before you set me free

oh listen please

_ Eriol descended the steps of the stage, and made his way through the mesmerized crowd… He made his way straight to the girl of his dreams… who was shaking with tears in her eyes… She had thought he'd ask Saya out, as Naoko and other girls were feeding her the doubts of how he was flirting with the new girl (a.k.a. Saya)… even on the bus-rides to the trip he had been accompanying Saya… She cowardly hugged Meilin and waited for him to take his hand out to Saya…_

Somebody wants you

somebody needs you

somebody dreams about

you every single night

somebody can't breathe

without you, He's lonely

somebody hopes that one day you will see

That somebody's me [X2]

"_Tomoyo… I've been in love with you… I don't know since when but it's definitely a very long time ago before you cut me off. I can't stand to a day without you being by my side… These 9 days, I'd been going through hell… please… Tomoyo say something… anything… I'm willing to hear you reject me, but I can't stand this cold treatment you're giving me…" he practically begged getting down on his knees…_

_ "Idiot…" Meilin heard Tomoyo say something but wasn't sure… "I'm such an idiot… I thought You loved Saya-Chan so I thought I should walk away…" _

"_You know I'm not… HIM…" Meilin pulled her away. Eriol saw Tomoyo's tears running down her cheeks, he immediately got onto his feet, wiped her tears away… "I do love Saya-Chan… for being the sister that I never had…" _

_ Saya smiled at her friend… "You idiot, I knew you guys loved each other the first day… I remember when Eriol-kun introduced me to you guys and practically made a run when he looked into your blue eyes and you had a blush every time he smiled at you… you guys are so oblivious to the obvious…" she patted Tomoyo's head just like Tomoyo did during the school festival in the cafeteria._

_ "Eriol…?", "Hmm…?", "I love you too…" and then Tomoyo had her first kiss… to which were everyone a witness from the school… -even the teachers and the clerks…-_

PRESENT DAY…

Eriol repeated the same words he said while confessing his love, this day, exactly 5 months since they started dating…

"_Tomoyo…?" He got down on one knee making her divert her whole concentration from the Venetian violinists to towards him… _

"_I've been in love with you… I don't know since when but it's definitely a very long time ago before you had cut me off for those 9 days. I can't stand a day without you being my side… Those 9 days, I'd been going through hell… Tomoyo… Would you let me be the one to love you all my life?" Tomoyo more than swept away by the words he said in the last line… "Say something… anything… I'm willing to hear you reject me, but I can't stand this loneliness… I want to claim you as mine… for as long as I live and even after I die, I promise to love you all the time…" _

"_Yes, yes… yes…" Tomoyo hugged the man she's been in love with ever since she laid her eyes on him. Right now… this was the happiest moment of her life… she knew there are going to be more happy-happiest moments now after this in her life, because she had the man she knew would never, let her go…_


End file.
